Evanston alders Tuesday are scheduled to approve a $248,000 contract with SB Friedman Development Advisors for "community engagement and visioning services" for the vacant city-owned land at Emerson Street and Jackson Avenue.

The Friedman response to the city's request for proposals was evaluated by city staff as the best of a dozen submitted by various firms that ranged in price from $70,000 to $444,000.

What to do with the Emerson-Jackson site has been controversial since 2018 when the then-owner of a set of seven aging rental properties there them up for sale.

A city staff memo says the new contract calls for three key deliverables: